The Development of Tcd Software And its Impact on Academic Writing: A Case on Malaysian Graduated Students

Academic writing is essential for students to complete their studies successfully and to compete professionally. University students are required to write based on various styles and are evaluated for their ability to write proficiently. This Table Connector Design (TCD) software is developed to improve writing skills, organise facts and organize academic writing data more systematically. It was developed to offer a fast, easy and user-friendly approach to academic writing that organises facts as found in the literature. The software also helps arrange ideas and facts in the form of a table that can be arranged and rearranged quickly and accurately to suit changing contexts and purposes. This study uses the Design and development research method initiated by Richey & Klein. This study was conducted by distributing questionnaires online using Google form to 37 software users and make interviews with 7 software users. The quantitative data obtained were then analysed using excel format, while interview data were analyzed using qualitative data analysis method. The findings of the study showed that, most users were satisfied with the software, 75% stated that it is easy to use, 95% easy to understand, 85% easy to use and 78% stated that the software meets their writing needs. While the qualitative findings show that all users stated that this software helps them a lot to write better and structured.